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“Never Again”: 30 Homeowners Warn Others About The Mistakes They Made With Their First Houses
Purchasing your first home is an extremely exciting experience. Finally, you won’t need to hear neighbors blasting techno at all hours of the night or fight for a parking spot when you come home after 9pm. You’ll be able to grow a luscious garden of your own and have the opportunity to hammer nails into the walls without losing your security deposit.
However, like most things in life, practice makes perfect when it comes to buying houses, so it’s inevitable that we’ll make a few mistakes the first time. To spare future home buyers from dealing with the same issues, homeowners on Reddit have recently been sharing all of the things they wish they had done differently when buying their first homes. Enjoy reading through their thoughts, and be sure to upvote the insight you’ll keep in mind the next time you move!
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#2
Didn't stay on top of the cosmetic things over thirteen years. The carpet was a bit worn, but no biggie. Could stand to replace the wallpaper in the bathroom with paint, but no biggie. Never did rehang that towel bar but I was a single dude, so no biggie. Refrigerator works but occasionally makes a noise like a clucking chicken, no biggie. And on and on. Filled multiple handwritten pages.
Until I wanted to move. All those no biggie issues became about nine months of doing not much else with my weekends and evenings.
With my current house I now stay on top of that stuff. Never again.
#3
I bought a townhouse on a beautiful golf course. The views from my home are magnificent, but they are out there before dawn 7 days a week doing maintenance. The biggest, loudest equipment I’ve ever seen (or heard) plus weed trimmers and blowers. I don’t golf and the maintenance never crossed my mind when buying this place.
#4
Started too many DIY projects at the same time, demoed. a bathroom for remodel, removed doors from kitchen cabinets to be replaced, started removing wallpaper we didn't like, removed old beat-up base trim, etc.
Result was we felt like we were living in renovation project for several years. Should have done one project at a time rather than getting carried away.
Stygtand 2 years ago (edited)
A little tip for renovations. Start with the bedroom. Get it done so you have a place to rest/safehaven. Do 1 room at a time afterwards. Hallways are always the last thing you renovate. When you do the kitchen try and find a small area first where you can setup a temporary kitchen. Takeout is gonna get old real fast, and coffee/tea will keep you sane. If you only have one bathroom/toilet do it when you got time off work so you can get it done as fast as possible. Edit: when you start a project. Make a time schedule. Then add about 40% to it. Nothing is ever easy there are always bumps on the road, and they are easier to deal with when you dont feel pressured from time.
#5
Buying that cute little cabin wayyyy out in the mountains. Can't work from home as the internet sucks, commute to any job is at least an hour. Buying groceries takes an entire morning and healthcare is 90 minutes away.
Tweed Jefferson 2 years ago
Yep it's a trade-off. Peace and quiet and nature in exchange for lack of convenience to services. Hence why some folks choose to live in the city and some in the country.
#6
Going with an inspector the realtor recommended. Regret it every day
Judes 2 years ago
I did something similar. I went with the conveyancer the real estate manager suggested. He "forgot" to include our $10,000 deposit on the final tally. Luckily I noticed it immediately, and got him to fix it, but we suspected he and the real estate manager had some deal going.
#7
I didn’t call before I dug…hit a gasline. Such a doofus mistake and one I’ll never make again. Gas guy was super cool about it though after I admitted my shame. In the end, came out pretty unscathed both physically and financially thank goodness.
Uncanny 2 years ago
A guy up the road from us decided to save money by extending his driveway sideways himself. Cut thru the broadband cable…took out the internet for the entire neighbourhood. Cue lotsa repairy type blokes, digging holes and having to run new cable all the way down from the top of the road into our housing estate.There were white vans and blokes in fluoro jackets everywhere. All on a holiday long weekend. I don’t think he saved money on his driveway. 😄
#8
The biggest thing my wife and I learned was financial. Just because the bank tells you that you can afford anything up to a certain amount doesn't mean you should go up to that amount. Sure we enjoyed the house, but we couldn't really afford to do much. We couldn't afford new windows that we desperately needed, we couldn't afford to go on vacations, couldn't afford to upgrade much of the house etc.... If we ended up staying there we wouldn't have been able to afford to replace the roof when it would have needed it or handle expensive car repairs. We ended up moving to a more affordable house and now we have some money to start investing for retirement and to buy me a newer vehicle.
#9
I tore out very high quality appliances just because they weren’t stainless steel
I tore out great vintage bathroom tile that seemed dated but I now wish I had kept
#10
Starting projects I didn’t know how to finish. Those were tough lessons. As some point, it’s best to give up and call a pro.
#11
Two story house with all the bedrooms upstairs and the laundry was at the opposite end of the house on the lower level.
The builder suggested moving the laundry to the second floor since it was a floor plan change they’d done before.
My mother in law talked us out of it because it would change the guest room layout.
Regretted that decision every time I carried laundry baskets up and down the damn stairs.
#12
Could have bought the adjacent lot, it wouldn't have made a big impact on our mortgage payment, but we didn't. So a crazy couple build a house there and we were stuck with them for years.
Vanessa Richardson 2 years ago
We bought the empty lot Nextdoor to our house! We live in a historic district in Kansas. The house that was on the lot burned down many years prior, can’t build a new one there bc historic district. Owner stopped paying taxes, lot went up for auction, no one else wants it bc you can’t build on it and voila! Doubled our yard space for $150.
#13
Thinking all of our neighbors would be neighborly.
#15
Didn't take care of the bushes and trees in the back. I assumed the rain would take care of them and I could trim as needed.
Almost everything was taken over by Ivy and killed, and everything else died because we didn't prune enough.
#16
We became enamored with a vaulted ceiling in the open concept living/dining/kitchen area when the other option was an additional room over the garage. Hindsight being 20/20, I'd live with a 10 foot ceiling and take the extra room.
#17
Ignoring that weird running water sound we couldn’t identify. We were *very* young, very stupid homeowners and after checking around inside and out we just shrugged and figured it was one of those weird things where you could hear the water in the pipes. Nope. Three days later my mom came to visit, heard the noise, opened the hatch to the six or seven foot high crawl space we forgot we had, and discovered our brand new indoor wading pool courtesy of a busted outdoor spigot that we didn’t know to winterize (did I mention we were young and stupid??). Thankfully fate smiles on the truly foolish. The pipe was fixed, the water seeped into the ground over a period of time, and all was right with the world. I still don’t know who builds a house with a “crawl space” the could double as an unfinished basement.
Just-4-2day 2 years ago
Larger crawl spaces are a blessing to the people, trades, that need to work under your home.
#18
Before making an offer I didn’t visit the house on weekend nights. I may have realized the scale of parties that get thrown in a neighbors house, and that would have saved me grief. Neighbors move, things change…. But look really closely at the neighbors before making an offer.
#19
Didn't check the air filter for the HVAC when I moved in. When I went to replace it *almost an entire year later* (that was my second mistake), there was no air filter. Previous owners must have removed it without replacing, so the HVAC system was just raw dogging the air in my condo for an entire year.
Laura Nordai 2 years ago
I've bought 3 homes in my lifetime...the first two were both over 100 years old...both times got a s**t inspector...both times I had to replace the HVAC within one week of moving in as well as MANY other things like securing a foundation wall. Third home, I gave up on my love for the old homes and just built one!
#20
Realtor told us that the sellers would be really offended if we asked for a home inspection. Bought the house in October without an inspection. The following spring, one of the gutters fell off because the subroof was rotted. Oh, to be that optimistic again.
#21
Buying a house that needed a new roof. HOA requires specific tiles, which were on backorder. Homeowners insurance got dropped because the roof wasn’t replaced. By the time it was, the insurance agent ghosted me. It’s been nothing but a nightmare.
#22
I didn’t realize my first house was in a flood zone until it came up at closing. I should have walked. But it was all I could afford.
#23
I had a new home and not didn’t have hardly any furniture or kitchen stuff. I thought I should remedy this immediately by putting all the stuff on cards. Ended up taking years to pay it off, and much of the stuff I bought, I ended up not really liking or using.
#24
As someone who did not grow up in the US, I did not know the difference between vinyl and hardwood flooring. The new construction home I bought had hardwood floors mentioned in the listing (it still has) but the builder gave me cheap vinyl floors and my realtor (who was also selling those new construction homes) did not feel the need to point it out / fix it or get me a deal! Second, my realtor convinced us that 3 bedrooms + lounge area was better than 4 bedrooms. Builder got to save some money by not having to build a dry wall and completing a closet installation by leaving that area as an open lounge. We did not know any better and thought that a lounge with my TV, guitars and Xbox would be a great idea! I later realized the amount of equity we lost by not building it as a 4 bedroom instead. Never worked with that realtor again. She still keeps sending us gifts from time to time. As first-time homebuyers from a different country of origin she should have educated us about these options when we had asked. TL:DR - developing the right filters and mental model to screen your realtor (as a buyer) is invaluable.
David A Paterson 2 years ago
Some realtors are the devil's spawn. You've got to learn which is which.
#26
Check the main sewer line usually in basements. I live in NJ. Old sewer pipes can crack and leak and clog up. I skipped this inspection in my first home inspection. Turned out the pipe was cracked and had tree roots growing in. Flood my whole basement with sewage water.
#27
Still buying the house...even after the seller rejected my offer, then relisted the house at a much higher price. I was desperate to get out of NYC and was moving to Florida. If I didn't meet the seller's new price, it meant that I'd have to take more time off work and spend more money to take another trip back to Florida to start the house search process all over again. So, I ate the extra $50K he demanded. In hindsight, it was so dumb. I should have just stuck it through another NY winter and flown back to look at more options later. I always resented that d**k move and never felt great in this house -- and that was one reason. Hopefully, someone in a similar boat learns from this.
Megan Curl 2 years ago
More bad news….if you’re in FL, you probably have an HOA, and there’s nothing worse than a bunch of retired power hungry busy bodies running the neighborhood.
#28
I had a main line clog (but didn't know that). I couldn't get a snake through the toilet to flush out whatever clog seemed to be affecting that particular toilet. I flushed the other toilet and it worked (but it was at a slightly higher elevation). So I pulled the toilet. S**t water everywhere, flooding upwards from the f****e. The wax seal came apart when I pulled the toilet, and It had to be gallons before I got it plugged. I had to cut six inches from my drywall in the whole bathroom and throw away all the trim.
James Ussery 2 years ago (edited)
F-l-a-n-g-e... That's one of the words censored. Really? Is that a naughty word now?
#29
Deciding to paint our own kitchen cabinets and measure/install our laminate countertops ourselves. They aren't holding up, and wish we had just spent some $ for a professional job.
#30
Forgetting to blow out the sprinklers before the first freeze of the season. It could have been worse but it was such a preventable thing.
#31
Not asking what the random 2” red rubber hose above the sump pump (that was apparently replumbed into the main sewer drain system instead of outside the house) was for. Three basement floods, two check valves, a new sump pump later - an electrician asks why we have an open hose running from the basement into our shed and then into the ground. Prior owners had hooked sump pump drain into the underground runoff pipe for the downspout. When it rained, water would just backflow straight into the basement through the hose. If you see something that doesn’t make sense, don’t ignore it.
#32
I was 23, and my soon to be wife and I decided we didn’t want to spent a penny renting, so we went looking for a home (1975). We found a affordable one that needed work, but couldn’t come up with the down payment. Her dad was loaded (supposedly), but told us timing was inconvenient. So, Aha!! I’d previously had a loan with the credit union, do I applied, put down home improvements for the reason, and got approved 2 days later. While we were waiting to sign at the closing our real estate agent, who knew we were having problems coming up with the down payment, asked how we got it. He went white when I told him, and advised he not to say anything about it unless directly asked. It was illegal to borrow for you down payment!! Paid it off it record time!!
#33
Put grad clippings first time cutting sod into black plastic trash bags and then put them in the garage. After a while our explosive meter started going off - the bags were hot to the touch. It’s then we realized that the decomposing grass was releasing methane and was a fire hazard.
#35
Not camera inspecting the drain line. I didn't want to pay the extra 150 to drag a plumber out. 1950s Era clay pipe. Belly in the line under my driveway. Excavated and replaced whole line from street to fdn. 6000 dollar fix.(2015). Never again. Pay to camera the line every time.
Thrillion 2 years ago
Sellers literally "blew out" the kitchen drain line so when we did the inspection it drained... right under the slab. Thanksgiving was in a month before we moved in. Drain stopped draining because there was no more pipe under the slab and the line to the city was clogged with dirt. We had no kitchen sink through the holidays and had $6500 bill to tunnel 11ft, cut the slab and repair the line. That house was cursed.
#37
I put in French doors that open in…right into my couch. When my dumb dog finally destroys them (dang squirrels make him crazy) I will replace them to conveniently open out!
#38
Checking delivery options, maybe not ridiculous, but i never read about it on any lists to watch for when buying. USPS, private shippers, and places like doordash/instacart. I would leave for work before the post office opened, and the post office was 30 minutes out of the way on the drive home to pick up packages, so I couldn't make it there during the week. No Uber, Instacart, Doordash, or delivery from stores. The biggest issue I had was my POD for moving. I had everything in a POD to be delivered when I bought a new house and it was in storage while I looked. Turns out they didn't deliver and I had to get a mover to empty it and drive it to my new house. I didn't live in the middle of nowhere either, big community, hooked up to local utilities, it just wasn't a serviced area.
Gina Cavalli-Boehne 2 years ago
This! We needed an area with our hospitals/doctors close to us. We also need the delivery services available. Both of us are disabled and those services are so needed these days!
#39
Don’t assume you can handle the mortgage because it’s close to what you paid in rent.
#40
Not figuring out light switches to outlets before I moved furniture in. Thinking I'd paint walls 'later'.
DennyS (denzoren) 2 years ago
The switch to outlet is a serious issue...I spent hours working on the layouts before doing renovations at home.
#41
2 bigger ones I can think of: Accepting a gift $10,000 to help buy a house that we really had no business at the time buying. We were not financially literate at the time and had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. I would never buy something again relying on a gift of money to do so. It means you aren’t ready to buy. Also, over buying more house than you actually need. Such as 4br house for 2 people or whatever. (Current market conditions may be somewhat curbing this tendency in buyers.)
#42
Planting morning glory seeds without realizing that they spread like crazy and strangle everything else in the garden. I know: it seems like a small thing, but wow, that was dumb of me.
#43
You need to change your furnace filters, all of them! (We had a second one in the attic that we forgot to change, so …yeah..repair bill.). 🤦♀️
#44
I read the inspection and it said "fairly significant grading issue" and then I spoke to the inspector and he said it out loud to me. he said that's why the dirt basement was always damp. I didn't think it was that big of a deal and not nearly the most pressing thing on the list. we ended up having to spend so much money on the grading and the (eventually) moldy basement.
Seadog 2 years ago
SO many people think a level yard is best. You want water to move away from the dwelling. If the yard is level it's going nowhere but down and if there's a big hole in the middle (basement) that's where it's going to end up unless you have multiple pumps to keep it from finding it's way under the floor.
#45
White grout on our kitchen floor. Stayed white for like 6 months. Kick myself every day for how stupid that was. Only part about our kitchen I hate. When I replaced our doors I custom ordered them all at the same time. Got the rough opening right, doors showed up. Went to hang the first one aaaaaand we have 2x3 interior studs. I ordered the doors for 2x4 framing. Custom order, not returnable. I think it was like 750$, down the drain.
#46
A fixer upper doesn't sound like 100k+ work but it ends up being that 🫠
iseefractals 2 years ago
In the 90's my uncle got a job as the VP of Compaq, and had to move to houston. As a signing bonus, Compaq said they'd foot the down payment and moving costs. My uncle found a 10,000 sq ft house with indoor racquetball court, a pool and 2000 sq ft pool house with a sauna for $350,000....because the previous owner attempted to burn it down for the insurance money. Lots of stone and marble, so it was mostly cosmetic and smoke damage. Still had to spend an additional $250,000 just to pass inspections.
#48
Didn’t think about the combination of a disabled parent plus only one bathroom, which was upstairs. 🤦🏻♂️
#49
Not reconnecting a downspout that was disconnected. Getting my roof pressure washed.
#50
Buying a house we liked but not caring about resale down the road. Like we had a great house with a tiny tiny yard, which didn’t bother us but turned out to be a pain to sell
#51
waited too long to get a plumber to inspect a leaking pipe in my garage. turns out the damage is way worse than i thought and it's going to be an expensive mistake even with an insurance claim.
#52
Didnt get my sewer line scoped initially, had a blockage a few weeks after purchase, sewer line is compromised and collapsing and needs to be replaced via a burst ~$9,000CAD. Woof.
#53
We bought a home with an old septic system. But the city was putting in a sewer line “soon”. Did not happen soon, and we had to deal with septic issues for over a year.
#54
Not getting a survey
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Rick Seiden 2 years ago
Bought the house. I'm not homeowner material. There's a lot of responsibilities that go with being a homeowner, and I just can't keep up with them all, or don't care to keep up with them all. I hate yard word, I hate painting and decorating, I hate hiring people to do stuff for me. It's a disaster. If I could do it over again, I wouldn't buy. I know that its an investment, but for me, it's not a good one.
Tim 2 years ago
I always question the soundness of a house as an investment. The amount of money you have to chug into interest, repairs, maintenance, just minor things, adds up. So much more than renting. I don't even have to buy light bulbs.
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R Dennis 2 years ago
Bought a nice house outside the city in a quiet area with water on two sides... well, I am now disabled and there are no sidewalks anywhere. The well is too small, so water pressure sucks. Worst of all the septic system is failing. Because our field isn't grandfathered in, it can't be repaired. Since we have mostly water in our backyard, we can't just build a new one... $2000 to get an engineered field designed and $35,000 to get it installed (with the price going up 10% every year). With me disabled, we don't have the income to just pay for it but we make too much for an assistance loan; interest rates on a personal loan would make our payments as much as our mortgage. As much as people hate on BTC, I appreciate it because I made enough to pay for this catastrophe.
Rick Seiden 2 years ago
Bought the house. I'm not homeowner material. There's a lot of responsibilities that go with being a homeowner, and I just can't keep up with them all, or don't care to keep up with them all. I hate yard word, I hate painting and decorating, I hate hiring people to do stuff for me. It's a disaster. If I could do it over again, I wouldn't buy. I know that its an investment, but for me, it's not a good one.
Tim 2 years ago
I always question the soundness of a house as an investment. The amount of money you have to chug into interest, repairs, maintenance, just minor things, adds up. So much more than renting. I don't even have to buy light bulbs.
Load More Replies... R Dennis 2 years ago
Bought a nice house outside the city in a quiet area with water on two sides... well, I am now disabled and there are no sidewalks anywhere. The well is too small, so water pressure sucks. Worst of all the septic system is failing. Because our field isn't grandfathered in, it can't be repaired. Since we have mostly water in our backyard, we can't just build a new one... $2000 to get an engineered field designed and $35,000 to get it installed (with the price going up 10% every year). With me disabled, we don't have the income to just pay for it but we make too much for an assistance loan; interest rates on a personal loan would make our payments as much as our mortgage. As much as people hate on BTC, I appreciate it because I made enough to pay for this catastrophe.
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